Everything we know about the mysterious founders of Westworld

"Westworld" continues to raise more mind-bending questions with
each episode, but we are finally beginning to get some answers
when it comes to the two park co-founders: Dr. Robert Ford and
the mysterious Arnold.

We wanted to take a closer look at everything we know so far
about these two important figures who seem to be at the center of
all the goings-on in Westworld.

Dr. Robert Ford

Dr. Ford is a powerful
figure in "Westworld."John P.
Johsnon/HBO

Ford (played by Anthony Hopkins) currently serves as Park
Director. His role gives him full control over nearly everything
in the park, from managing new narrative storylines to sitting in
on behavioral analysis sessions.

Ford was the one who "interviewed" Peter Abernathy
after he went rogue.Courtesy of
HBO

Based on the scenes we have of him so far, Ford appears to prefer
the company of hosts (robots) to that of humans. In the pilot he
was shown talking with an old host named Bill who was down in
"cold storage."

Then in the second episode, Ford went for a walk in an
undeveloped area of the park. He encountered a young boy there,
who appeared to be a host version of Ford as a child.

Based
on their conversation, we're pretty sure Ford built a young
version of himself.HBO

Ford has an enormous amount of control over the hosts

Though other employees need touchscreens or voice commands to
make the hosts shut down or perform another action, Ford can
control all of the hosts in the park — even animal robots — with
a mere flick of his finger.

This was demonstrated when he encountered a rattlesnake during
his walk with Young Ford.

"Everything in this park is magic," Ford said. "Except
to the magician."HBO

Ford was able to halt, and dismiss, the rattlesnake with nothing
but his index finger.

We saw this again when he had lunch with Theresa Cullen (Head of
Quality Assurance) in the fourth episode. He froze a host as it
was pouring wine, and paused all the hosts in the vicinity at the
same time.

"His mechanisms of control are subtle," Nolan
told EW. "We thought a little bit of a conductor with an
orchestra, where the entire orchestra at any moment is so hyper
aware of what the conductor is doing that the tiniest gesture can
ripple through the orchestra — not just those who are actively
watching, but it all becomes one large organism. He's had 30-plus
years to gain his level of control."

Ford has a "black hat" mentality

A possibly significant aspect of Ford's character is his hat.
Ford wears a black hat when he enters a park — a probable symbol
of his darker intentions.

Ford summoned the sound of "church bells" with his
fingers, too.HBO

We saw a bit of Ford's sinister qualities during the restaurant
scene with Theresa. He quietly asked her not to interfere with
his plans, after displaying his power with the hosts. We don't
know exactly what Ford is planning, but it's clear that he is not
a person you want to underestimate.

The Mysterious Arnold

A
photo of Ford (left) and Arnold.HBO

Arnold is much more of an unknown than Ford. We first heard about
him during a conversation between Ford and Bernard Lowe, the Head
of Behavior and Programming.

Arnold was Ford's partner and co-founder of the park. "For three
years we lived here in the park, refining the hosts before a
single guest set foot inside," Ford explained. "Myself, a
team of engineers, and my partner. "

Ford
seems willing to discuss Arnold when he's
mentioned.HBO

Arnold's approach to building the robots

According to Ford, Arnold had more grand ambitions for the hosts
beyond just serving as pseudo-humans.

"He wasn't interested in the appearance of intellect or wit,"
Ford said. "He wanted the real thing. He wanted to create
consciousness."

Ford drew Arnold's pyramid theory on the
chalkboard.HBO

Ford says that Arnold had imagined the development of
consciousness as a pyramid (visualized above).

Memory on the bottom, then improvisation followed
by self-interest. Ford says Arnold never made it to the
"top" of the pyramid, "but he had a notion of what it
might be."

Arnold believes a theory of consciousness called
the Bicameral Mind could serve as "a blueprint for building
an artificial [human mind.]"

Bernard sums up this theory, saying the Bicameral Mind is "the
idea that primitive man believed his thoughts to be the voices of
the gods."

Bernard is concerned about Arnold's code
resurfacing.HBO

Apparently, Arnold built a version of the robots' cognition
in which they heard their programming as an inner monologue. Ford
says his hope was that "in time their own voice would
take over."

Very few people know about Arnold

Bernard expressed surprise to
hear that Ford had a partner, which means Arnold's existence was
not public knowledge — even for employees of the park.

"My business partners were more
than happy to scrub him from the records, and I suppose I didn't
discourage them," Ford said.

But at least two important characters do know about Arnold: The
Man in Black and Logan.

Logan works for a company that is considering buying
Westworld.John P.
Johnson/HBO

Logan brings up Arnold in episode five. "Supposedly this place
was all started by a partnership and then right before the park
opened, one of the partners killed himself," Logan tells William.
"Sent the park into a free fall. I mean I don’t know any of the
details — I don't even know his name. He's complete mystery. Not
even a picture."

It's interesting that Logan claims there are no photos of Arnold,
when we know that Ford shows a photo of him to Bernard. But
though Logan doesn’t know his name is Arnold, he knows there was
a co-founder and he knows that he killed himself.

The Man in Black discussed Arnold while explaining his quest to
find the maze to Armistice in episode four.

The
Man in Black is another important businessman.HBO

"You ever heard of a man named
Arnold?" The Man in Black asks. "You could say he was the
original settler of these parts. He created a world where you
could do anything you want, except one thing. You can't die.
Which means no matter how real this world seems, it’s still just
a game."

The Man in Black knows Arnold’s
name, and he also knows what happened to him (in a vague
sense).

"But then Arnold went and broke
his own rule," The Man in Black says. "He died right here in the
park. Except I believe he still had one story left to tell. A
story with real stakes, real violence. You could say I'm here to
honor his legacy."

The Man in Black thinks Arnold
crafted the maze, and he's on a mission to find it.

How
much does the Man in Black know about Arnold?HBO

How Arnold died

When Bernard asks what happened
to Arnold, Ford replies with a mysterious answer that matches
with the Man in Black and Logan's version of events.

"He died," Ford says. "Here in
the park. His personal life was marked by tragedy. He put all his
hopes into his work ... his search for consciousness consumed him
totally. Barely spoke to anyone, except to the hosts. In his
alienation he saw something in them. He saw something that wasn't
there. We called it an accident but I knew Arnold and he was
very, very careful."

That last line, combined with
what Logan said, can be interpreted to mean that Ford knows
Arnold killed himself.

HBO

Ford prefaces the story by saying
that Arnold's life involved tragedy, and he had isolated himself
from people. Perhaps Arnold was depressed, or manic, and killed
himself in Westworld as a final escape from the real
world.

Dolores and Arnold's relationship

We know Dolores was created by Arnold, and that she was speaking
with him the day Arnold died. In episode five, Ford has a
conversation with Dolores about the past.

Ford suspects that Arnold has been somehow communicating with
Dolores again, and asks her to enter analysis mode and tell him
when she last logged an "encounter" with Arnold.

"34 years, 42 days, 7 hours ago," Dolores said.

Dolores is subverting her programming with the help of
... Arnold?HBO

"Yes Dolores — the day Arnold died," Ford said. He goes on to
ask: "What was the last thing he said to you?"

Dolores said Arnold told her she was going to help him "to
destroy this place."

We never get an explanation of what "destroying" Westworld meant,
nor exactly how Dolores was meant to help Arnold. But clearly
their history is fraught, and Dolores may know something about
Arnold's suicide.

Why Arnold matters now

Though they gave up on the
Bicameral Mind line of thinking, Arnold's code is still inside
the hosts. The voice commands employees use to control them are
pieces of his code.

We know Ford updated some hosts
with a line of code he calls "reveries." This was meant to make
it so the hosts could recall certain thoughts or feelings, making
them more lifelike. But what if the "reveries" are calling back
to other — more dangerous — parts of Arnold's original
code?

A
voice told Dolores to "remember" right before she had flashes of
"memory."HBO

Several times in the first half
of the season, we've seen Dolores Abernathy react to a voice — a
voice that seems to be speaking to her from inside her own
head.

The fifth episode seemed to confirm that this is Arnold speaking.
After Ford interrogates Dolores about Arnold, he leaves the room.
Dolores then says out loud "He doesn"t know. I didn't tell him
anything."

She must have been speaking to Arnold’s voice in her head,
assuring him that she was able to lie to Ford about their
internal communication.

Dolores also told the voice that she was "coming" after
she got on the train.HBO

Perhaps the "maze" is designed to
subvert the hosts' programming and help them achieve true
consciousness. We know Bernard knows about the maze, since he
told Dolores to try and find it. The Man in Black definitely
knows about the maze, and believes Arnold created it.

Each of the main characters —
Ford, Dolores, the Man in Black, Bernard — seem to have a
connection to Arnold. Though most of his work and presence in the
current storyline is still a mystery, we're betting he will
continue to play a big role in the series' coming
episodes.